Monday, November 21, 2011

456: Divination from the books

I have grabbed a pile of books from the shelf – mainly religious ones and reference books – and have an urge to pull passages/entries out of them at random and see what happens. Maybe a thread will emerge, a theme. Maybe I will be able to divine the future. Worth a try?

5 Yea, how quick to be lifted up in apride; yea, how quick to bboast, and do all manner of that which is iniquity ; and how slow they are to remember the Lord their God, and to give ear unto his counsels, yea, how slow to cwalk in wisdom's paths !

The Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ

Helaman 12:3-19

a Prov. 29:23

b TG Boasting.

C TG Walking in Darkness ; Walking with God.

genetics,n. the branch of biology concerned with the structure, location, abnormalities and effects of the GENES. Medical genetics is mainly concerned with the expression of abnormal genes or gene combinations in the production of disease. Knowledge of such matters allows useful GENETIC COUNSELLING.

Collins Dictionary of Medicine, pg. 254

lexical-decision task An experimental technique for evaluating the manner in which verbal information is stored in memory. The task simply requests the subject to decide as rapidly as possible whether a string of letters presented briefly is a real word or a non-word. The pattern of response latencies that the subject produces is a sensitive measure of ► lexical *memory. Also called word-nonword task.

Penguin Dictionary of Psychology 2nd edition

The atom bomb is a paper tiger which the U.S. Reactionaries use to scare people. It looks terrible but in fact it isn't. Of course, the atom bomb is a weapon of mass slaughter, but the outcome of a war is decided by the people, not by one or two new types of weapons.

"Talk with the American Correspondent Anna Louise Strong."

(August 1946), Selected Works, Vol. IV, p. 100

Quotations from Chairman Mao, pg. 140

6 Blessed are the death-defiant, for their days shall be long in the land—Cursed are the gazers toward a richer life beyond the grave, for they shall perish amidst plenty!

5 Remember his wonderful works that he has performed, His miracles and the judicial decisions of his mouth.

New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures

Psalms 105:1-32

53. They ask you to hasten on the punishment (for them): had it not been a term (of respite) appointed, the punishment would certainly have come to them: and it will certainly reach them – of a sudden while they perceive not!

The Meaning of The Holy Qur'an

Surah 29: Al-Ankabut

BLOOM (In alderman's gown and chain.) Electors of Arran Quay, Inns Quay, Rotunda, Mountjoy and North Dock better run a tramline, I say, from the cattlemarket to the river. That's the music of the future. That's my programme. Cui bono? But our bucaneering Vanderdeckens in their phantom ship of finance...

James Joyce, Ulysses, pg. 452

A journey I've taken through wisdom and wit, both ancient and modern. Dubious sources all of them, yet all playing their parts well; all mean something to someone, if only the author or his fans and followers. Shakespeare warns me to remain thrifty in preparation for my forthcoming marriage; how did he know? It's almost as though he speaks to me, and me alone, over the vast human stretch of centuries; approximately half a millenia after Shakespeare wrote those words and here I am, getting married ; what an amazing coincidence.

The reference to genetics tells me to consider breeding – starting a family – and perhaps warns me to consider the risk of genetic disease. Considered alongside the passage from the Satanic Bible it is a reminder that the continuation of the genetic line is the only real source of immortality; of life after death. I am the current final link in an unbroken chain of successful reproducers stretching back four billion years to the very beginning of life on this planet. Don't be the end of a four billion year chain. The reference to saddlebags is also an obvious call to breeding.

The lexical-decision task is about my writing, and my novel. It is also about this blog post. The important detail to be gleaned from the Mao quote is the idea of people winning battles – struggles – not weapons or tools. It is I who will write the novel, not my laptop and not the internet. It is ...

Yesterday I had the following for tea, and I post it here just to remind myself, so I can have it again in the future. Smoked haddock fishcakes with wasabi mayonaisse, stir-fried rice vermicelli with garlic and onions, and a rosemary poached egg. And plenty of soy sauce. That was so delicious I may just make the whole thing again right now. Fortunately there is enough of everything left to have the whole delicious pile again tomorrow.